Promises
by Olympiangirl
Summary: I promised Max so many things. But the hardest promise was the one where I promised never to fall in love with her.... the promise I had already broken. Faxness; Fangs POV. Really sweet. My first MR fic, and my first oneshot! T to be safe.


**Guys, there's one thing in this that DOES NOT go with the books. In this, NUDGE CAN'T COOK. Got it?**

**Enjoy!**

I promised Max when we were still wee little babies in the school that we would stay with each other. Well, virtually. We didn't know how to talk. OK, I promised, myself, happy?

When we left the School, we promised to help each other. We were family now; we knew that.

When Jeb died, (or so we thought) we promised to always take care of each other and the Flock. It was a promise we intended to keep.

When Nudge almost blew up the house, we made a promise never to let her cook again. I really _don't _want to be hanging around in Arizona, trying to explain to Dr. Martinez how Nudge basically destroyed half of the state.

And then, so long ago that I can barely remember it, Max and I promised never to fall for each other. Because it would hurt the Flock, and if we broke apart, our family and friendship would be ruined.

I don't think Max remembers that, really. She probably put it towards the back of her mind and forgot about it. I only remember it because I think that I loved her, all the way back then.

Yeah, yeah, have a field day. "Fang Admits He Loves Max!" "Emo Teenager Finds True Love!" I admit it, world! The problem is, she doesn't love me. I think.

Of every promise I've made in my life, that one is the hardest to keep. Because I already broke it.

Now, if you can excuse my babbling, (Oh, no, I'm turning into NUDGE! At least I can cook.) The thing I'm here for started Wednesday after we got back home. Y'know, battled some Flyboys, no biggy.

You already know how we destroyed Itex, right? Well, those Dumbos never turned the Flyboys _off_, so even though Itex is dead, the Flyboys remain.

So, we collapsed on Dr. M's couch, groaning and whining and whatnot. ('cept for me. I stayed quiet.) I just knew that any second, Max would turn into Leader Mode and send everyone off to bed.

"Allright, everyone." Knew it! "We've had a good day and all, but we need our beauty sleep. Nudge, Gazzy, off to bed. Iggy, don't stay up later than midnight, K? And I DON'T want to wake up to find you and Ella making out on the couch." Iggy blushed. His so-called 'secret' relationship with Ella was about as unnoticeable as Gazzy's farts. "Angel, was there anything new in the Flyboys thoughts? Is someone reprogramming them?"

Angel shook her head. "Nope," she said, popping the P.

Max sighed. "It was worth a try. Fang, you wanna take watch?" I shrugged. "Sure."

As they all headed off to their respective rooms, my voice betrayed me. "Max, wait up, OK?" I heard Angel giggle as she delved into my head to learn what I thought about Max. I slammed my mental barriers up too late.

"I'll see you upstairs!" called Max. "Nudge, I don't care if you make me breakfast, just try not to kill anyone! Especially Dr. Martinez." Unfortunately, Max wasn't kidding.

"Yes, Mom," Iggy said sarcastically.

We watched them trod upstairs, laughing and joking. When they turned out of sight, Max wheeled around to face me.

"So what was it, Fang?" she asked me.

I couldn't speak. I stood there gaping. "Nothing," I finally mumbled.

Max rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Fang! I thought we got you past one-word answers. Am I going to have to get you another therapist?" she teased, knowing she wouldn't really. It was times like this that I loved about being with her.

"Seriously, though." She said. "What was it?"

I hesitated. Something in me had to know. But something in me couldn't bear to find out.

"Do you remember our promise?"

There. It was out.

Max blinked. "The promise to never let Nudge cook again?"

I smiled a small smile. "No. The one…. Where we promised to never fall for each other."

Her face instantly hardened into a mask. "Yes," she mumbled. "I think I do. Why?"

I really didn't want to have to answer that. "No reason."

"Come ON, how long do we have to keep playing this game?"

I didn't answer, and we sat in silence. Dr. Martinez and Ella were both asleep, and the Flock was too, hopefully.

"You know," I said softly, "The Flock is growing up."

Max nodded. "Angel doesn't need me." She admitted. "Is Gazzy next? I know we all love each other, but what will they do?"

"Huh?"

"What will they do? Will Gazzy become a joke-shop owner? Will Angel work for the FBI? When will they leave us, Fang? I'm scared. They're all the family I have."

"No," I reminded her gently. "You have me."

She didn't answer, and I continued. "If Iggy leaves, who says he won't come back? Who says Nudge won't come back from a fashion show looking for us? Max, we love them. But they have their own lives to live. The most we can do is love them and hope for the best."

She didn't answer. I heard sniffles. I suddenly felt terrible. I should have been nicer.

"Hey," I whispered. She didn't move. "Hey, you know the promise I was talking about?"

She looked up and nodded with a tear-streaked face.

"I asked," I murmured, "Because I broke our promise. I fell for you."

And then I kissed her.

She tasted sweet, like cinnamon and raspberry. Our lips pressed firmly together for a moment and then fell apart. She stared at me, tears forgotten.

"I broke it too," she whispered. And then she kissed me back, fiercer this time. I cradled her cheek with my thumb.

A minute later we broke apart from air. It would have been a perfect moment…

Except for the whoops coming from the stairwell.

I turned. "Nudge!" I shouted. "I'm gonna kill you!" She must have been surprised to hear me showing emotion, because she dropped and stared at me. Then she realized I was kidding, and shrieked.

"Yeah! I knew you would get together! I gotta go make pancakes to celebrate!"

"It's eleven o'clock at night," Gazzy said wearily.

"Whatever."

I grinned at Max. "So we're here, we have a home, and we're safe."

"Apart from Nudge burning down the house," Max pointed out. I grinned and turned towards the stairwell, where the noise and light had woken Ella and Dr. Martinez. "Wuz going on?" Ella yawned.

I grinned at her. "Oh, nothing much."

END!

**Please review, my first MR fic and my first oneshot.**


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